I bought a 590A1 12 gauge last month, and have put a few hundred rounds of buckshot through it. There is an operational quirk associated with this shotgun - I would like to know if it really is a quirk, or is my weapon defective?

Here's a description: Imagine you are holding the shotgun with your left hand on the forearm, applying some slight backward pressure on the forearm. Now pull the trigger; the forearm/slide is not free to cycle backward. You must release the rearward pressure on the forearm to allow the slide release to disengage. You never notice this if you are in the habit of holding the forearm either in a neutral position, or applying some forward pressure as you shoot. I spoke with Mossberg and they told me this is normal operation. I've also examined the action's workings, and nothing appears to be amiss.

I am new to Mossbergs, and my Winchester 1300 has never behaved this way. I understand there is considerable difference in the way the bolt locks between these 2 designs. My Winchester practically cycles itself, once fired. Is my technique wrong? Should I, as a matter of course, be applying forward pressure to the forearm as I fire the weapon? I would appreciate comments from other 590 owners. Thanks.

Doug99 The mossys will not be quite as fast as the 1300 but it can be slicked up a little to make it cycle faster and smoother.
The first way to do it is to shoot the massy a whole bunch which polishes the internal parts after some time.

Optional:
Another way is to dissesemble the mossy and polish all the contact points which will decrease friction and make it cycle smoother.
Go Wally World or Kragen and buy some wet dry sandpaper in 600, 1000, and 2000 grit and get to know your mossy. By looking at the internal parts you will see a slight wear pattern forming on the bolt and transfer bars. This wear is caused by cycling the action and will show you where to polish. You do not want to take any material off these points you only want to slick them up and take off the rough tooling marks. If there are really rough tooling marks you might need to stone the parts a little. Starting with the rougher paper and working to the finest paper smooth the parts until you are satisfied with the smoothness of the parts. Then you can chuck a felt bob in the ol dremel and using some polishing compound really slick the parts up until they are almost mirror like. Next look in the receiver and you will see the 2 channels that the action bars and the bolt travel in, do the same polishing to the channels as you did to the bolt and action bars. You will need to make a couple of small sanding blocks to hold the paper as you are working inside the action and you need to get in the channels which is hard without the blocks.

Reccomended:
The next thing that I do on most pumps that I work on is to see how the action locks up.
On the mossy there is a small bar that holds the bolt closed. This bar is attached to the bolt release and If you turn the gun upside down and look in the loading port you can watch the bar move up and down while you operate the bolt release. You need polish the locking bar and the area of the bolt that the bar rest on when the action is locked. This will allow you to apply some pressure to the forearm while you are firing the gun. I've done some that you could grab hold of the forearm and pull with all your might and pull the trigger and the action will cycle just fine. Other required some stoning and filing of the locking bar to get them just right. I would reccomend that you just polish, if you don't like it after polishing take it to a smith.

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